Tag Archives: time

Silence is neither always good nor bad,
but it is what clings to you in the night.
My wife has stumbled into settled slumber,
a rational thing to do I’d agree, but still,
here I am, bone weary, too drained to go and join her.

The continent this night turned their clocks
upside down and backside front, and—
convinced as I was to connive in the madness—
I think that explains me now: I was supposed
to fall back and apparently I did,
because whatever time it is, it’s too late for me now.

Find your voice. Rejoice. Pray and listen.Grab wisdom and don’t be stupid.
I went to bed.

This poem is only a slightly edited version of a posting at my friend, T.’s blog SpeakListenPrayDon’tBeStupid…a blog name that, you must agree, demands love. The post was entitled Find Your Voice! Find Your Voice! And Listen… and it was such a fine read that I asked him if I could write it into a poem.

OK, truthfully, I actually just wrote the poem and asked for forgiveness after, but that’s sort of the same thing. In any event, T. said yes. I love his tag line (it is italicized in the poem), especially the straight up, “don’t be stupid.”

Thank you for reading Just what time is it, anyway? I sincerely hope you have enjoyed it and I humbly appreciate your visiting the Book of Pain. As always, I look forward to your comments.

From the warp and woof of creation
are we made, you and I. Truly,
I remember it well:
it was then, that then,
that perfect instance
before the smallest slice of hence,
when every tiny bit was hurling into
being and aiming straight for this now
with its cold, cruel lament in the sky.

But what exactly is this sterner stuff
that you and I are made of?
We are the longing that binds us to the whole
and weaves us both from and into
the fabric of our time. See?
Here and now/there and then,
that’s us, screaming at the darksome sky.

For some odd reason I can neither understand nor explain, I spend a lot of time thinking about time. And although I am not a Christian, let me make my point using an often used quote from the Bible: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. (Revelations 22:13). Alpha and omega, being the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, represent the beginning of eternity and the end of eternity, i.e. infinity in both directions.

This statement sounds all powerful, and I do believe in the All Powerful God of the Old and New Testaments. But this aspect of God’s Majesty is not based on the fact that God predates time and will be God after time ends. That notion may have worked for an older time, but today I think we can recognize it for the somewhat smoke and mirror truth it is. In fact, with The warp and woof of creation, my point is that I believe we all predate time and we will all exist after it ends.

Time is, no more and no less, a physical dimension of the physical world, and with the three spatial dimensions, comprise the 3D world we live in that progresses forward into the future. But all peoples of all religions who believe in a Deity, by definition of that belief, believe that we are spiritual beings (and, truly, mainly spiritual beings) anchored only, while we are living, in this physical world. Thus, in coming from a spiritual existence we predate time, and when we leave the physical realm we will exist after time. In fact, this goes even deeper: once you are out of time’s clutches, to speak of ‘before’ time ‘or ‘after’ time doesn’t make sense. You are ‘beyond’ time and the past and the present and the future are, as far as they can exist, all one.

And just as equally, I believe that the spiritual part of our love is something we also take with us beyond the grave, beyond time’s ’embrace.’ In fact, what other purpose is the physical world then the spot designed to learn all the spiritual virtues? You certainly don’t take anything else with you when you go. This explains why cherishing love and keeping it lit and holding it aloft is so important.

And finally, I confess that I am very pleased to finally bring The warp and woof of creation to life, and as always I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to your comments. I first drafted it about 15 years ago and just recently found it in an old notebook, long ago abandoned because honestly, while the core idea was there from the start, it was a pretty awful poem then. I hope I have managed to bring it forth now in a way more deserving of its lofty theme. Perhaps doing so now is—how else can I say it—timely?

You and me, let’s do it, let’s start it,
Us Anonymous.
They’ll come, you’ll see,
every one of them, they’ll come.

We’ll launch with a desperate desire
because that’s the key to it, I think, desperation.
To celebrate, we’ll take every last, nasty thing
that we can be and pour them into some fireworks.
We’ll seal them up and prime them down
and launch them way up high.
When they explode (and count on it, they will)
every little part that we let go
will burn and glow in full public view
(painfully it’s true, but just for a moment)
before fading…leaving our dreams on the air,
dispersing everywhere.
Gosh, I can see it now, it will be beautiful.
It will.

Thank you so much for reading Us Anonymous. I sincerely hope you have enjoyed it and I humbly appreciate your visiting the Book of Pain. As always, I look forward to your comments.